Immaterial Labour

Series of lectures and workshop as part of the Urban Strategies - Urban Agency program delving on the new forms of labour that are no longer defined by production, but by the evolvement of social relations, modes of living and of subjectivation.

Immaterial Labour; photo: Jan Sprij

4

Nov 1999

20:30 to
22:30

location:
Zaal de Unie, Mauritsweg 34, Rotterdam.

'Money' and 'work' fulfill a prominent role as autonomous categories in the classical economic theory of the 19th century. The economic changes of our time, especially the globalisation and automation of production and the strengthening of the service-sector, bring about a new dominant form of work, which is described as 'immaterial work' by Lazzarato and others.

'Immaterial work' describes forms of work that are not based on the notion of (industrial) production, but that rely upon the development of social relationships, life-styles and subjectifications. This evening discusses the hypothesis that immaterial forms of labour are increasing and investigates the consequences of this shift.